The shop is entitled to make a living. It is available and if there's a demand then why not. You must know how many young race horses wind up at the slaughter plants, thousands and thousands. Ask your father.

As long as the animals (ALL meat animals) are treated humanely and killed humanely, I have no problem at all with what is sold. These won't be your "pet" horse because the drugs/wormers we use won't make them legal for consumption.

What I don't know.....is if they keep the horses in a feed lot, how long before the drugs might be purged making them legal for human consumption. Anyone know?

As far as I know there have never been any controlled recognized Lab tests done to confirm this in horses because the pharmaceutical industry and the Crop protection Industry (They also have to do withdrawal tests on livestock for pesticides etc where the crop is going to be used as animal feed) don't recognize horses as livestock
Bute is always going to be the biggest issue as its not allowed globally for use in any animal that's going into the food chain

Well let's think of this another way: Do you think it would be fair if all grocery stores stopped selling ALL meat because one vegetarian wrote a letter to the grocery store because they were disturbed by all the meat being freely sold?

Everyone comes from different backgrounds and have the freedom to make their own decisions on what you eat.

Meat is meat. Turn your cheek when you walk by.

I actually would love the opportunity to try horse meat. I have heard it's quite good. And eating horse meat is quite commonplace in other cultures.

Cows receive shots and pain meds too. My parents raise cattle and we've often butchered old thin cows to eat. I'm sure I've eaten "medications" but I haven't thought twice about it because that cow has been in our possession for well over a decade in our pastures. So I wouldn't personally think twice about buying meat from a grocery store because it wouldn't be any different for me.Posted via Mobile Device

Grocery stores sell based on demand. If everyone feels similarly to you, the store will stop selling it because nobody is buying it.

I think Brussels Sprouts are just plain horrid and nasty.... I'm certainly not about to start a campaign to force stores to not sell them. Obviously other people like and buy them. Same with all the 98% sugar cereals the store sells.... no way in heck am I going to let my kids eat them but if other people are ok with it, more power to them!

I raise cows, pigs, chickens and turkeys for meat. I didn't sit back and watch my pigs with pneumonia die, no I was out there 2x a day giving them shots and was thrilled when they got well enough that catching them was practically impossible. They grew into mighty nice, fat pigs and off to the butcher they went. Mighty tasty pigs they were too!

I say avoid the store if you want. If you feel the need, I also see no reason not to tell the store owner why you will not be shopping there. As other posters have said, stores won't keep bringing in supplies if they are not selling. My sister, one time, refused to go a certain restaurant as it served shark meat (in a soup, as I recall) -- I don't know if other patrons felt the same way or not but I notice they stopped serving shark just before they went out of business.

I believe it to be true that horse meat is routinely put into pet food. My small animal vet has said that when you read the list of ingredients on the label, the ones identified as just 'meat' are horse meat.

Unfortunately I don't have a solution to keep the thousands of horses that end up in the slaughter plants out of those places. I can only urge people to think responsibly and compassionately when it comes to breeding the backyard mare, keeping the large brood mare band, starting horses too young, or using horses too hard.

You won't find me eating horse meat, but I recognize that not everyone shares my opinions and they have the right to eat horse meat if they please. As long as the animals are treated humanely and laws are followed, there probably isn't much you can do.

As someone else mentioned, it would be like a vegan protesting against your normal local grocery store selling meat. It's just not going to have much of an impact, IMO.

Horse, thou art truly a creature without equal, for thou fliest without wings and conquerest without sword. - The Qu'ran

I'd be asking where this meat comes from and how they know it's safe. To the best of my knowledge, no one in Ontario raises horses for meat, and it's possible the people buying it don't understand the safety issues involved with eating an animal that wasn't raised for human consumption.

If there are safety issues I would spread awareness based on that. Forget the humane angle as people don't care about that.

Always remember that feeling of looking at a big, open country over the ears of a good horse, seeing a new trail unwind ahead of you, and that ever-spectacular view from the top of the ridge!!! Follow my training blog: http://robertsontraining.blogspot.com/

If a horse was slaughtered humanely and there was minimal suffering and ended up being sold in a butcher shop as opposed to a neglected horse left sitting in a paddock with inadequate care/feed then I know which one I would which one I would feel sorriest for. I find it interesting that this bothers you more than the racing industry which creates so many unwanted horses. I do not participate in anything relating to this industry for that reason but also accept that it is there and not likely to go anywhere anytime soon.

I'd be asking where this meat comes from and how they know it's safe. To the best of my knowledge, no one in Ontario raises horses for meat, and it's possible the people buying it don't understand the safety issues involved with eating an animal that wasn't raised for human consumption.

If there are safety issues I would spread awareness based on that. Forget the humane angle as people don't care about that.

Horsemeat from Canadian slaughterhouses goes into the EU so I imagine its being supplied direct to Canadian butcher shops from the same source
Canada has the same passport system as the EU which has been designed to track any drugs that are administered for slaughter for human consumption purposes
Horses don't have to be specifically bred for meat to end up on the table
Of course after the scandals in Europe we all know that the system isn't by any means foolproof but in the light of those recent events, the drop in sales of horse meat and general distrust in the slaughter houses they have had to tighten up their acts so the risks of contaminated meat getting through is much less likely than it used to.

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